Computer systems and other information devices store data to optical disks (such as CDs and DVDs) which have a decent memory capacity. The optical disk (hereinafter, disk) is loaded in a disk device for data reading and writing. Generally, the disk devices are classified into tray type and slot-in type.
The tray type devices are equipped with a disk tray that moves between a loading position where it rests in a chassis and an eject position where it projects from the chassis (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publications No. 11-185338, No. 2005-135508 and No. 2002-237119 corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 6,704,266). When a disk is set in the disk tray at the eject position and an operate button, for example, is pressed, a loading motor starts working to pull the disk tray into the loading position. Then, a slider moves and lifts a lift frame, which supports a turntable unit and a pick-up unit, composing a traverse unit as a whole. During uplift of the lift frame, the disk is attached to a clamp head of the turntable unit. The lift frame is further lifted to a read/write position, and the turntable starts rotating the disk. The pick-up unit reads or writes data to the rotating disk. When the operation button is pressed again, the slider moves in the opposite direction from when the disk is loaded to bring down the lift frame to a lower-most position, and the disk tray is pushed out to the eject position.
The slot-in type devices have a bezel with a slot on a front surface of a chassis (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2006-228353 corresponding to U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0230412 A1). A disk to be loaded is inserted to the slot of the bezel. When the disk rim touches a disk loading mechanism, a loading motor starts to activate the disk loading mechanism, and the disk is pulled into the chassis. Then, the slider moves and lifts the lift frame. The lift frame moves from a lower-most position to an upper-most position and attaches the disk to a chucking head of the turntable unit. The lift frame is then slightly brought down to a read/write position, and the turntable unit starts rotating the disk to enable reading or writing data. When an eject button is pressed, the slider moves in the opposite direction from when the disk is loaded to bring down the lift frame to a lower-most position, and the disk loading mechanism carries the disk out of the chassis.
In either type, the slider and the lift frame are connected to each other through a cam groove of the slider and a lifting pin of the lift frame that fits into the cam groove. When the disk is loaded, the slider moves to lift the lift frame from the lower-most position to the read/write position. To facilitate sliding of the slider, a small gap is created between the slider and a slide surface (for example, a bottom plate of the chassis). This gap, however, makes the slider somewhat bumpy during the slide motion, and causes unstable movement of the slider.
A small gap is also created between lifting pin and the cam groove, so that the lifting pin can slide smoothly in the cam groove. However, if the disk device is subject to vibration or impact while the disk is being rotated by the turntable unit on the lift frame at the read/write position, the lift frame vibrates up and down in the gap, possibly resulting in read/write error of the data.